Is City Bicycle-friendly?

May 17, 2004|By Jim Smith

This past month, Delray Beach filed an application with the League of American Bicyclists for designation as one of the nation's "Bicycle Friendly Communities."

At the outset, let me say that I do not know what the criteria are for obtaining such a designation, so I really can't judge whether Delray Beach qualifies or not. But in the past two years, the city has taken what I would describe as some baby steps toward improving conditions for cyclists.

In November 2002, the City Commission created a temporary Ped/Bike Task Team with the goal of making recommendations that, when implemented, would make Delray Beach more bicycle friendly. As the chairman of that Task Team, I believe we met the commission's objectives. At about that same time, the city manager also designated a staff person to attend the monthly Palm Beach MPO Ped/Bike/Greenway Advisory Committee meetings and to assume the duties of a ped/bike coordinator. The City Commission also approved submitting a grant application for new bicycle lanes on Homewood Boulevard from Atlantic Avenue to Lowson Boulevard. All of these actions are leading us in the right direction and are commendable.

However, even though Delray Beach appears to be a nice place to ride a bicycle, it's not a safe place to do so. Crash statistics show that Delray Beach consistently ranks No. 1 in bicycle crashes compared to the other 30-plus Palm Beach County municipalities. I attribute this primarily to the lack of bicycle and greenway facilities in our city. Even our fabulous Atlantic Avenue bridge lacks safe access on the southwest corner for cyclists, parents with strollers and the handicapped.

In addition, even though the task Team presented its recommendations to the City Commission last July, they have not been acted on.

One of those recommendations was to create a permanent volunteer citizens ped/bike/ greenway advisory committee. Another recommendation included adopting pedestrian/ bicycle/greenway master plans.

Recently, as most people know, the city recommended that A1A be widened to include a 3-foot paved shoulder, ostensibly for cyclists to ride on. However, a 3-foot paved shoulder is not a bicycle lane, nor is it recognized as such by state law. A 3-foot paved shoulder is not maintained by the state, which means that debris is not removed -- as it would be if it were a real bicycle lane. Further, a 3-foot paved shoulder is dangerous, simply because it's too narrow.

What makes this decision so disturbing is that it would not have cost taxpayers a penny more to have asked the Florida Department of Transportation to build a real bicycle lane. That's because the funds have already been collected from gasoline taxes and will be spent instead in another Florida location. What is also troubling is that there is a 100-foot right-of-way available -- plenty of room to have built a 5-foot, designated bicycle lane.

As a result, I will predict that there will be bicycle crashes, and perhaps fatalities, as a direct result of building a 3-foot paved shoulder instead of a regulation bicycle lane.

"Bicycle-friendly"? Personally, I don't know how a city can consider itself bicycle-friendly when it is not a safe place to ride a bicycle.

I guess everyone has his own criteria. I would rather see the city concentrate its time and resources toward making the city truly more bicycle-friendly before it had filed for such a prestigious award. What do you think?